This invention relates to a pulling device and, more specifically, to a device for pulling an object or item such as a pulley or wheel from a shaft or alternatively for pulling an item such as a bearing or race from its housing. The puller is, thus, reversible and may effect an inside pull or an outside pull.
Repair of automobiles, machinery and other similar mechanical devices often requires utilization of special tools for the disassembly of the component parts of the device being repaired. Among the tools which are often used for such disassembly are those which are termed a puller or pulling device. For example, when removing a steering wheel, pulleys, bearings, hubs, gears and the like, devices known as pullers are often used.
A myriad of types of pullers are available. Often the pulling devices are special purpose devices which are designed to provide for what is known as an outside pull. In an outside pull, various clamping arms grip around the outside of an item, such as a pulley, and are then utilized to pull that device off of a shaft or the like. An inside pull is an alternative procedure that is often used and is effected by means of arms which have gripping ends that extend radially outwardly so as to engage the inside surface of an annular item such as a bushing or bearing for removal from a housing or sleeve, for example.
Prior art pulling devices are typically adjustable to enable pulling or removal of items having various inside or outside diameters. Also, some prior art devices are designed to permit the same device to effect both an inside as well as an outside pull. Such devices are thus reversible.
There are various patents related to such devices including U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,535 which discloses a pulling device wherein the pulling arms, once positioned around an item, are locked into that position so that they cannot slip from the item which is being pulled. This is a safety feature which is desirable inasmuch as operation of a pulling device preferably occurs in a manner whereby the pulling arms will not slip. Perhaps, in the future, governmental regulation may require that there be such safety features incorporated in all pulling devices.
Thus, there has developed an increased need for pulling devices which are flexible and may be used not only for inside pulls but also for outside pulls upon items of varying diameter. Also such a pulling mechanism may desirably be locked into a specific diameter in either the inside or outside pull position. Seeking such a construction has led to the development of the present invention.